Washing your records
can be the only sensible way of removing fingerprints, dust and grease.
A wet-washing machine with a vacuum cleaner makes the job easier and better.

I chose a worn-out
Beogram 1000 turntable as the platform for my washing machine, trying to
keep the cost close to zero.

First I removed the
motor and tone arm plus some other unnecessary components.

A cast-iron
spacer from a defective lamp and a slice of rubber from a scrapped grinding-
machine was adapted and glued to the turntable platter (Araldit).

A long set screw
of suitable dimension is used as the new center-spindle.

The record label
will be supported from underneath by the slice of rubber. Only the label
is supported. The grooves might be damaged if you do not modify the platter,
rubbing the dust and grit into the grooves on the opposite side of the
record you are cleaning.

A second slice of
rubber and a wing-nut clamps the disc to the spacers, making the record
easy to rotate and clean. The label is in this way a bit protected from
the cleaning-fluid.

A L-shaped platic-tube
system is clamped to the turntable instead of the tone arm.

"Velourcondom"
protects the record

The tube-system is
connected to an industrial-type 1500 W wet-vacuum cleaner. The L-shaped
tube is closed in the record-end, except for a slit covered with a tube
of velour-cloth, shaped much like a condom.

The slit of the tube
must be parallel to the record-surface.

Never
use alcohol on shellac records

Cleaning-fluid is
sprayed onto the record surface until the entire playable surface is wet.
For vinyl records I use one part isopropyl and two parts of distilled water.

Never use alcohol
(isopropyl or any other kind!) on the 78 rpm shellac records. It will completely
destroy the record. Use only distilled water (and perhaps some dish washing
agent).

Different brushes
can help the cleaning proces.

Be careful not to
rub too much, monitor the process while you turn the record manually.

Grit and dust can
scratch the grooves more than your ears will like afterwards.

Clean along the
grooves. Try to determine the right compromise between cleaning and rubbing
the record to death....

When you have loosened
the grit and dust, you suck the record clean with the vacuum-tube system
by turning on the vacuum cleaner.

Dust, grease and
grit are in this manner removed from the record surface, and you can now
listen to a hopefully less noisy record.

Wet
cleaning or wet playing can be the only wayThe tube-system
is coupled to an industrial wet-vacuum cleaner. You should NOT use a household-vacuum
cleaner (fire hazard!).

After a turn or
two the record seems dry and clean, but revolve the record a couple of
times more to be sure.

After cleaning the
record can be put aside to make the label dry completely (a bit of fluid
will find its way to the label if you are not extremely careful).

Dusty but otherwise
undamaged records will be less noisy after this type of cleaning, and removing
the dust will save the records from further detoriation.

After the cleaning
the use of an antistatic "gun" is a good thing, and give the record a new
inner-sleeve without pvc.

Greasy and somewhat
damaged records will be saved from total destruction, but very dirty records
with "burnt-in" fingerprints and battered by years of abuse must have special
treatment beyond the scope of this description. Tea tree oil, though, seems
to be able to revome e.g. tape-glue from vinyl-records, but be careful
to remove the oil again immediately.

Mail me if you have
some good ideas.From "the good old
days" in the seventies I know the method of "wet playing". I use it from
time to time, playing with a rugged but full functional Shure stylus, "digging"
the grit up from the grooves.